- Learn how attachment cries, defense cascades, and shutdown states shape the nervous system’s response to trauma
- Distinguish between fawn, appease, freeze, and shutdown—and explore how each state reflects a unique survival strategy
- Help clients map their window of capacity, recognize their somatic patterns, and develop personalized practices for self and community care
Mapping the Nervous System: Understanding Survival Responses and the Path to Regulation
Linda Thai, MSW, LMSW
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Linda Thai, MSW, LMSW
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124 Responses
Outstanding presentation. So thorough, well taught, practical and tenderly presented. Thank you.
W O W ‼️Just wow. ✨🙏✨
Joyfully and expertly presented. Coherent and clear. Thank you.
A really heart-full presentation, beautifully illustrated in a variety of ways which makes it all the more accessible. I loved the interludes of somatic awareness throughout which were very powerful. Thank you. Here’s to joy!
Linda, I got so much from your presentation. It made me proud and excited to be a social worker—thank you! My wheels are turning and I wonder what some special considerations might be for working with geriatric populations? Lots to think about and pursue. Thanks again!
What an amazing presentation! So much content, clarity and fascinating knowledge! Thank you so much Linda! Being a Scandinavian – English is not my first language – I will certainly listen several times, stop and take notes.
Outstanding!…described me to a tee!…made me cry with joy & hope! Thank you!!
wow! this is so deep, so relevant. We are all animals, after all.
Wouahhhh! So captivating and so well explained! I finally understand the nervous system!!!! Thank you so much!
Thank you beautiful soul. Very practical and can only imagine scratching the surface. Love and best wishes Colin
You are a breath of fresh air, Linda Thai! Thank you for your genuineness (is that a word, lol), your incredible emotional intelligence and the amazing workshop. My son is dealing with trauma from a trigger last may, and has been diagnosed with psychosis, and we both learned a lot! Thank you for the practical tips, too. Namaste!
Loved this so very much – Thank you!
That was so beautifully presented and informative.
AMAZING presentation … so much theoretical knowledge based in practical lived experience … humbled and empowered – Thank you 🙏🏼
Wow, really wonderful presentation, I loved it!!
Informative, expressive, understanding and well researched! Much Love, Liz McIlvaine
What an amazingly presented and explained video by Linda. And the energy that was being shared through the knowledge, truly magical. Thanks a ton, Linda.
Brilliant presentation. I’m very greatful for your elaborate explanation and useful instructions. Your video allowed me to gain an even deeper understanding of my own practice as a therapist. Thank you so much!
I’m THANKFUL of course – instead of greatful. 🙂
Wow. Brilliant.
Thank you for a wonderful presentation! So appreciate your ability to communicate the ANS and all its complexity in a client friendly manner. I love the invite to map the nervous system!
Linda Thai’s presentation is wonder-full! It is on point, thought provoking, sensitively presented– personally and inclusively, and invites personal growth. I feel lighter now after watching this. Thank you.
Extremely clear and concise teaching on the science of the nervous system, brain and body responses to both trauma and healing. This session has made me much more aware of myself and others. I feel like I suddenly have ears to hear a new language that is being spoken all around me. Thank you also for the joy and spontaneity of your exercises! They made me laugh and relax and enjoy the session all the way through. You are a great teacher.
Rebekah
Absolutely brilliant presentation, delivered somatically and holistically! Love the window of capacity and replacing arousal with energy. Ty so much!
This was the best presentation I have seen on nervous system mapping. Linda Thai’s examples in each of the states and how we might think and act were incredibly helpful. Her presentation style incredibly engaging. Thank you!
A few years ago I registered for Linda Thai’s presentation on trauma (individual /collective/community/cultural) I was crying for those 3 hours and I don’t think I saw a dry eye on the screen with the many other participants who were also psychotherapists like me. Linda’s wisdom is so profound and her somatic approach, so practical and much needed in this world.
🙏 Brilliant 🙏. I have PTSD and CRPS, and I have been on a healing quest. This is giving me courage to keep trying to free myself. Thank you for all the tips and putting in words the full picture. 💐
As a fellow PTSD-sufferer, happy to see someone else address this video from the standpoint of personal experience rather than as someone who has observed and treated the condition in others. The insight Linda has into this is remarkable. May we both benefit from her wisdom—and may all who watched this help others who are burdened with PTSD.
Maravillosa presentación,muy didactica.Gracias
Such a fantastic presentation. The speaker also embodied the practices of somatic therapy within the talk itself.
Thank you so much Linda! I’m a visual learner, so your slides were incredibly helpful during this presentation. This is the most clear and easy to understand presentation I have seen concerning the nervous system. I really appreciate how you included some somatic exercises throughout the presentation for us! I really enjoyed this! Be well!
This was the best presentation of day 1. Clear precise theory and application.
Linda you gave a well presented, interesting and stimulating presentation given with so much love and warmth -thank you
I truly appreciated the amount of preparation and heart you put into this presentation. Thankyou 🌻
High Five, Linda! Gosh, you made me smile at the end when your laughter filled the room. Thank you! And best wishes to you from sunny Australia, mate.
Thank you Linda! Very informative and clear.
Linda, I could listen to you forever. Your calm and your joy cue safety and regulation for me, and I found your presentation both educational and experiential. Thank you! Everything you said resonates and reverberates to my core.
A very interesting and into detail explanation of how our nervous system reacts.
I totally enjoyed your way of presenting yourself too, by showing us how our body reacts, voice changes, and you expressing freedom with your body online! :-))
A beautiful whole of person, expansive and honouring life view of this area and our somatic responses and resources to trauma and its societal and cultural context. Thank you so much!
Fantastische presentatie! Complexe materie op een heldere en eenvoudige wijze gepresenteerd. Dit was heel inspirerend. Dank je wel, Linda.
Wow. This was amazing, Linda is phenomenal. A truly informative & insightful hourlong session that resonated within & helped me understand the mechanisms of own trauma responses. Thank you for sharing your insights & knowledge. It was also emotive as well as helpful.
Wow! I think this is the best presentation I’ve ever watched. What an inspirational, joyful and knowledgeable human. Thank you for your time and enthusiasm. I particularly appreciated the small moments of resourcing which were offered to the listener – I can really struggle to stay alert during virtual work and not only have I made more sense of this, but I now have some tools to address it. As well as tools to enhance my own work as a psychologist. Thank you Linda.
wow , what a lovely vibrant person, with so much sharing and so well presented
Thank you Linda 🙏💛🙏
So helpful🌷, so wise🌷, so clear🌷 and so deep🌷
Fabulous run through the N.S. Linda Thai you made it come alive for me in a way that all the reading I have done so far re body and NS has not. Great communicator.
This was wonderful Linda. Although I knew 95% of it you view and sprinkles of somatic practices made me learn and integrate it on a deeper level. Thank you! <3
Thank you Linda. A wonderful presentation with clarity and so much detail. I felt I was present and could fully receive what you were offering in your presentation, which in my experience, isn’t always the case. You gave not only videos but many images, bringing more clarity to aid my learning, not just mentally, but also from my body’s perspective. I know this will then stay with me. 🙏
Thank you <3
Such a terrific presentation and sense of engagement with us. Manybe great tips/skills that I will first applay to myself and then clients. Thank you so much. Would like to hear more.
Wonderful inclusive loving exposition of trauma and and the nervous system
That was so inspiring and beautifully presented, with such authenticity, embodiment, and playfulness. Thank you Linda, you left me with tears of joy, appreciation and connection at the end.
The most heart centered presentation that I ever experienced.
Learnd and enjoyed it fully.
Thank you Ms Thai ❤️
The presentation was excellent and provided a wealth of valuable information. It was both informative and educational. I appreciate the opportunity to engage with such a resourceful session. Thank you!
Incredible presentation and content and just so much love for you Linda – that was beautiful, informative and inspiring. s
OMG! I love her! This is so incredibly informative. Rich in content and masterfully presented. Her energy is warm and welcoming. I learned so much and am eager to continue on this path. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 🙂
Outstanding! One of the best presentations I have seen..thank you so much!
Thank you for meaningful conversation, your approach is both engaging and knowledgeable. I truly appreciated the time with you
how do i sign in?
I loved the brilliant way Linda integrated the subject matter of her talk with the lived experience of that subject matter, by connecting it to how the audience member’s nervous system might be reacting and acknowledging and encouraging them to tune in to it and to invite a moment of care to the nervous system. This seems to also address the need to take care for not re-traumatizing, while also supporting her encouragement to become intuned to how our nervous system is reacting and behaving in various situations. Thank you!
how do i prove that I am not a bot?
One of the most powerful sessions I have ever watched in my whole life. Wondering about when someone we love has a seizure during extreme stress…
I think you are talking about psychogenic seizures
Thank you, clear information, examples and uplifting and calming exercises. It gave me details on the nervous system (I had some background knowledge but some precisions are very interesting). and some ways on how to start to become friend to my nervous system and to learn to recognize which state I am in.
excellent explanation of the biologic/physiologic reason for survival vs maintenance living vs thriving behavior/coping strategies.
Excellent presentation, so informative, thank you!
Amazing! Inspiring!
excellent!!
Absolutely engaging, applicable and relevant. Thank you for sharing your work!
Fu@#%ing great!!! What an awesome presentation. This human being/woman rocks big time. Many thanks!
Amazing! Really eye-opening, a little bit disturbing and joyous presentation at the same time.
Wonderful presentation. Thank you so much!!
fantastic presentation! Such practical help
Fantastic, thank you Linda.
I need to rewatch this and take notes. So much to take in and explore for myself and my clients.
absolutely amazing experience with attention to the body and how that interacts with the nervous system . Very well defined and presented and to make it fun with learning was icing on the cake
Absolutely tremendous presentation 🙏 Intellectually described, passionate, yet gentle and beautifully and authentically caring. Thank you for sharing such important information in such a relatable way.
I’m so grateful to have seen this presentation, thank you so very much. I wonder what role or correlation too much energy and too little energy play in the cycling of bipolar disorder.
Well done, Linda. Thank you
Incredibale. It was clear, deep, engaging , connecting , inspiring ! I enjoyed every minute
This was an excellent presentation- engagaing, trauma-informed and clear with fantastic slides and visuals. Thank you.
Best session on trauma therapy and polyvagal theory I’ve ever seen – and I’ve seen dozens. Thank you so very much for enlightening me and helping me move from disconnection to connection in just one hour!
Wow, this was so wonderful! Thank you Linda, I learned so much that will benefit my own healing and my future clients!
Wow, this was so wonderful! Thank you Linda, I learned so much that will benefit my own healing and my future clients!
Amazing! I cannot recall when last I have been so engaged and open to experiencing in a lecture. Linda Thai invites connection, with her facial expressions, movements, and demonstrating her own sense of being in her body and in tune with her nervous system. My takeaway messages : “state created the story” and trauma is mental injury and healing is political , and “in service of survival”. Thank you than you thank you!
Beautiful presentation! Coherent, cohesive, informative and joyful. Thank you!
Incredible wisdom about trauma that I had not heard before. Thank you, Linda, for your expertise. Your questions for clients around their Window of Capacity is invaluable.
Beautiful trauma informed and experienced presentation 🙂 much appreciated Thank you
Best class I have ever had about trauma… and the resources she used to allow us to not get overwhelmed were very accurate, precise, relieving and fun. I loved it all.
Incredible! It was the most concise, informative, practice-helpful, and gentle presentation on trauma-oriented therapy, nervous system, and polyvagal theory I have ever heard and seen. Thank you very much, Linda. I’m so glad I decided to watch it!
Wonderful. As someone diagnosed with PTSD in 1987 while working as a federal agent, I’ve had repeated “returns” to the fear, incapacitation and helplessness that were my initial responses (all three and many more, quite legitimate in terms of the years-long threat involved). After viewing this, I better understand why I return to those states and why I experienced them in first place. Thank you and how I wish this video were available on the Internet indefinitely!
Outstanding presentation. Whit compassion well taught, practical and tenderly presented. Warm thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing with incredibly insightful work🙏🏽
Thank you so much for the presentation, it’s profound and yet applicable, for myself and my clients. I’ll also be inviting my clients to do some of the little relaxation activities in sessions.
I loved this presentation. Linda was assessing and reiterating my life history of undiagnosed trauma responses. No one has been able to do this for me. Thank you Linda…. I watched you twice unwilling to go to bed..for fear that I’d forget. More research pending for me… again thank you for this precise and acutely accurate understanding of trauma and the trauma experience .
Linda … I loved your presentation SO much that I have listened 3 times 🥰 (and taken coloured notes on the last. 😁) Loved this learning so much … I am so grateful … peace love and joy. 💫💛🌻
You are a phenomenal person, Linda Thai! You exude compassion, kindness, wisdom and joy. This video has changed my life. I cried with relief at the depth of your understanding and humanity, and with joy because I know I’m finally okay. Thank you from my whole heart.
Wow! Such a fabulous presentation, opening insight, reflection and understanding in a way that is different to how I’ve previously learnt and understood. Love your approach and engagement. Thank you.
Linda, listening to you was a ‘lightbulb’ moment, it all made sense. You describe a long and sometimes painful journey of inner understanding and introspection that can lead to deep peace. A kind of peace that cannot be reached without this journey. You are truly inspirational, thank you.
wooooow what a lecture!!!!! Thank you so much! I loved the mixing of theory and practices.
This presentation was sooooooo amazing! Thank you for sharing this with us all!!!!
That was amazing !!!! So full of content, you’re an amazing teacher, you explained everything so clearly. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together.
The presentation was excellent and clearly communicated important principles about the autonomic nervous system and trauma. However, I was surprised and somewhat disappointed that Dr. Stephen Porges, whose Polyvagal Theory underpins much of this material, was not mentioned or credited. Given the heavy reliance on his groundbreaking work, I believe it would have been appropriate to acknowledge his contributions directly. This would both honour the source and provide a fuller context for those less familiar with the origins of these concepts.
Amazing & so alive
Amazing & so alive
Absolutely brilliant! I learnt so much on a topic I thought I knew! Wow! Linda really is an expert and embodies this work. Thank you!
What a wonderful training, Linda! I love your energy, wisdom, and beautiful way you shared your knowledge in such a short time. You really expanded my horizons! I could feel the deep connection between you and the knowledge you shared. I truly appreciate your maturity — thank you so much for introducing the nervous system from different perspectives!
Brilliant! Thanks à LOT. Would like to learn more from Linda Thai
Absolutely wonderful! So much information so gracefully presented in such a field of care. Immediately helpful, infectiously hopeful.
Thank you for your presentation!!! What you shared with us was so helpful
An awesome presentation. Detailed enough to know what to research further and thorough so the lay person can follow. Thank you!
Brilliant! I want more! 😉
WOW!!!! That was outstanding!!! Such an embodiment of the work!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Thank you great presentation. Does anybody know the name of the author she mentioned in the difference between fawning and appeasing? Thank you
Wow. My body is smiling 🤩 absolutely love it !
Absolutely special learning for me as experienced in explanation from a very special mental health practitioner, Linda Thai! Thank you so very much!! So very helpful personally and professionally!
Totally cool,session really appreciate the adapted charts and your masterful exemplar narrative, and practices with such humour and sensitivityloved the joy celebration at the session close to, feel more skilful with window of capacity which I call window of wellbeing as also find tolerance potentially problematic really get the overt ride element ….am sure you nailed the exam you didn’t need to pass Linda 🤔🙏🏽
Excelente, aborda temas complejos con tanta claridad y naturalidad y en un estado vago ventral que motiva seguridad y ganas de quedarse. Excelente
Thank you so much Linda.
This was so helpful, so clear, and so coherent! I have been learning this content over the past three years and your presentation really helped summarize everything I have learned and taught new material in such a memorable and felt way. Your embodied presence is such a gift. Thank you!
I had no idea I fawned with/for my mother. Four years ago, to have her in my life, yet again, I witheld my PTSD from her. I told her all was well, when really nothing was further from the truth. I wanted her love and to have her in my life. That lasted about 8 months. I could no longer hide/fawn, I could no longer hide what was really happening. We’ve had no communication in 2+ yrs. My PTSD is still activevbut will never go back. Fawning takes too much energy & I’ve learned it simply not worth the energy I don’t have. That’s now OK for me.
Thank you for a brilliant presentation. You exude much passion, love & positive energy!
Lovely session with very well presented conceptualisation Linda. Thank you very much for this insightful presentation and connection with us out here in streaming land.
Thank you Linda for an engaging easy to understand presentation that will enable me to communicate complex concepts to traumatised adolescents. Watching from Woodstock NSW Australia.
I ve watched this video thrice over ye past 2 days in order to thoroughly digest every word. As a trauma survivor, it has armed with great insights but more importantly understanding in hindsight why I never recall some events afterwards or remembering only fragments. Thank you Linda! I literally wrote down every word you said.
This is fantastic! It’s maybe the best teaching I’ve received on understanding the nervous system’s response to pain/trauma and how to come alongside as a clinician. Linda is an excellent communicator, coming up against *huge* topics that many textbooks have been written on and condensing the information into understandable chunks. She conveyed empathy for our position as a student learning (or re-learning) heavy ideas around trauma. This tone allowed me to pause and reflect, stay engaged without overwhelm. Linda was engaging and interactive, bringing the listener into the experience of recognition of our own internal reactions. Perfect for the subject: beyond cognitive learning into the nervous system experience. Wow!
Brilliant presentation. Explains the aetiology of trauma and its impact well.
This (Linda Thai) was the best session of the whole summit. Clear and precise with great practice examples.
I also enjoyed Ann Wiesner who made using the soma-sensory approaches easy to start applying. Then Deb Dana and Peter Levine.
Thank you so much for making this available to us in South Africa as well.